A Link Through Time
by SightlessDreamer
Summary: In Hyrule, things are looking dark for the future, if the past is any indicator. But when a simple bodyguard is hurtled from a world polluted with machinery and greed, into what seems to him an alternate universe, the fabrics of time itself may be torn apart. Set Between Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess. Please R&R! Thanks


Hey there! I haven't posted a story on here for a long time, but I've been working on this one for a while now. I won't be updating very often, because I want the chapters to be very, very long.

Also, I don't own LoZ (although I have met some of people involved with making OoT, which was freaking amazing!)

Thanks for reading!

~SD

* * *

The sky was gray and dull, reflected in the water below me. I could barely see myself in that reflection. Too much pollution and waste that gives the water a multi colored, oily sheen. There hadn't been fish there since before I'd even been born, and it was said that there had been an ancient race of people who had thrived in the lake, but had long since died out due to the now poisonous water. The only clean source of water came from the river that started in the mountains and ran through canyons and underground passages that was the source of the lake.

The immense building in the hazy reflection behind me, which once shined bright in the sunlight, though no one alive today could remember ever seeing it that way, was crusted with dirt and rust. It was the Lake Hylia Hydro Electric Plant, or L.H.H.E.P for those who didn't want to go through the trouble of saying the whole thing. Back in the 'old days', it had been the main power source for the whole of Hyrule, but now it was barely running. I still wasn't sure why they hadn't either torn it down or left it to rot.

I was supposed to have been escorting an inspection officer down to the lake, even though running an inspection on this dump was useless. In any case, I was told to wait outside, because however much of a dump it was, it was a high level clearance joint. I was just glad it wasn't raining. Yet. Because when the rain came down, it burned when it touched your skin and left tiny red welts. Most people said that it was the Goddesses' way of punishing the people of Hyrule for what they had done to the land.

Once upon a time, or so they say, everything was green and life flourished everywhere. Magic filled the air like a blanket of smoke and there were creatures that lived and breathed it. But eventually, things began to change. There were those who weren't satisfied with the way things were going, weren't satisfied with the government system, and so on. So they industrialized the ancient technology that was already there and left the rest of the people in the dust. Soon, it was spreading like a plague over the country.

Farmers were run out of business by those who had machines to do the work for them and miniature wars were fought between expanding manufacturing companies. The magic seemed to vanish and soon people didn't know how to survive without technology. If you had taken it away and said 'Your ancestors were farmers, so go take up their mantle', they would probably starve.

Maybe two centuries had passed since then and the future of Hyrule was looking as dark and dingy as the building behind me. The landscape that I could see from where I was sitting was cold and bleak, empty of almost all life. There were maybe a couple of what looked like skinny goats up on the hills that got the most light, but wildlife was scarce these days. They'd probably escaped some slaughterhouse nearby. Good for them.

Speaking of slaughterhouses, that was the economy these days. It was hard to find an honest job when most employers were looking for expendable meat. To make it beyond that, you had to be good at something that they considered useful. And with all the dying resources these days, violence was considered a skill.

Unfortunately, that's how I make my meager living. I'm reasonably strong, quick, and light on my feet. I could probably be one of the best if I didn't flat-out refuse to take innocent lives. Not to say that I hadn't killed people before, but they were always criminals. But now I was stuck in limbo, that space between worthless and worth, the gray transition between black and white.

It didn't make a difference that I'd been sent to school when I was younger. Unfortunately for me, an education isn't as prized as being as big as a house and having the temperament of a Bulblin, which were coincidentally used as meat shields in confrontations. Bulblins were ugly, green-skinned, vicious, and had covered Hyrule since before the first machine was even thought of. Originally, they were probably bandits or just general troublemakers, but now they were like dogs, trainable and obedient for a price. Most of them were paid in food or Glitter, a substance that mimics the euphoric feeling of being filled to the brim with magic. Or at least, that's what it was supposed to be.

When they weren't employed, they lived on the streets of Castletown, the capital city, along with all the Hylians who couldn't afford a nice place to sleep. They stole from people, spread around illnesses, and were always looking for something to eat. They were kind of like rats, if you thought about it. There were always disappearances, though no one really took any notice. Word is is that over in the Eldin Sector, they were being experimented on. But it wasn't just Bulblins going missing. People were too.

A drop of rain fell and sizzled mildly on my exposed wrist. I was wearing mainly toughened black leather, so it wouldn't be a problem there, but if it hit my face, I'd be sorry later. I drew my hood closer around my head and crossed my arms over my chest. The rain was falling more heavily now and I could practically see the fresh clearness of the drops being swallowed by the dirty sludge of what was left of Lake Hylia.

I pressed myself against the wall and closed my eyes. The last thought to flit across my mind was that the people of Hyrule were just like those raindrops, disappearing into the background and being devoured by the filth that infested the land.

I dreamed of a forest. Or at least, that's what I thought it was. The air was clear and there was a clean, sort of spicy scent in the air. Small, glowing lights drifted on the breeze and swirled with currents of air that passed them by. The trees, which I knew from pictures in books, were enormous, ancient giants standing guard over the land. In front of me, I could see a faint glow through the foliage. There was nothing to hear except the whistle of the wind through the branches. It grew louder and louder, till it was pounding in my head and I lifted my hands to cover my ears. The scenery however, remained completely unaffected.

* * *

My first impression of the sound that awoke me was that of a caged beast roaring. I jolted away from the wall and instantly recoiled as rain struck any exposed bits of skin on my body. I fell back and looked around quickly. It was still raining, so I couldn't have been dozing for long, but the air seemed darker and it was harder to see. The sound blasted into the air around me again, shaking the ground under my feet and sending out a wave of hot air.

Time seemed to slow down as I realized just what the sound was. What had been the wind in my dream was actually angry red flames that were belched out of the windows a couple stories above me. Something must have gone wrong inside the main building and caused an explosion. I scrambled away from the water's edge and raced for the entrance, this time ignoring the sting of the rain. I had no idea where I was going, but if I went back to the city without that inspector, I was as good as dead.

Inside the old power plant was much better than it appeared from the outside. Despite the smoke, occasional flames, and the sand scattered everywhere, it looked almost pristine. It didn't take a genius to figure that something wasn't quite right with this situation, but even so I didn't stop to think about it.

At one point, I thought I had seen someone swiftly moving down one of the corridors and I ran after them, but they were much faster than I was, and not only did I not get a good look, but I lost them after only a few minutes.

I ran for what seemed like hours, until my lungs burned from inhaling smoke and my legs ached, and still I didn't see a single person who looked as though they might work there. Not the inspector, either. Not even any bodies. More and more explosions had gone off, but at this point I was lost and had given up hope of getting out alive. Occasionally I would catch a glimpse of the one person, but every time I made a move to follow them, they disappeared. Sometimes it looked almost like they were beckoning, which just served to make me angry.

I turned down a hallway after the path ahead of me was blocked by rubble falling from the floors above, only to find that there were no doors, no other hallways branching off of it, just one single big, iron door at the very end.

I ran towards that door like a madman, because the ceiling above me was starting to give way. When I was close enough to see that the keypad to open the door had been broken by some falling rubble, I nearly cried out. Nearly. Instead, I rammed into it and ran my hands over it, searching, hoping for some crevice to lever it open. But it was as solid and smooth as glass and I couldn't find any kind of seam.

At that point, I turned around and faced the destruction before me. I had accepted that I was going to die, but I was going to meet death head-on. I leaned back, pressed my palms against the door, and closed my eyes.

After a few moments, a bright light shone through my eyelids and I braced myself for the explosion and the heat and the pain. Instead, I found myself falling backwards, something that caught me so unaware that I was sent sprawling across the smooth, cold floor. I heard the big, impassable door slide shut in front of me, and all was silent.

I still had my eyes closed and didn't want to move. For a moment, I thought I might be dead, but then my body reminded me that the position I was in was not a comfortable one, so I opened my eyes, untangled my limbs and sat up, finding myself in a clean, white, room. It was very bright, so much so that I had to squint as I looked around.

The whole space was virtually empty, and the walls were plain. The only thing I could see from my position on the floor was a tall, cylindrical object that reached all the way from the floor to the ceiling and looked to be placed in the center of the room. The room itself was very cold, enough so that I could see my breath.

I stood up shakily and listened hard, but I couldn't tell at all what was going on outside of the room now. There was no trace of smoke, no sound of explosions, no sound at all really except for my breathing. Even the floor was stable.

After staying like that for a good five or ten minutes, I relaxed some and took another look around. The walls and floor were white and seamless, and the ceiling seemed to be made of light panels. I eyed the cylinder for a moment before approaching it warily. The surface, which appeared to be glass, was covered in thick condensation, making it as white and opaque as the rest of the room.

I walked around the cylinder and something near the floor caught my eye. There was a plaque set there, with black letters against a shiny metal background. It read:

SUBJECT 1

HOLDER OF ARTIFACT: WISDOM

STATUS: PRESERVED

I looked back up at what I realized now was a holding tank. What was something like this doing in what was supposed to be a hydroelectric power plant? I hesitantly reached up and ran my hand across the surface, removing the built up fog that clouded the glass and revealing the figure behind it.

The first thing I saw was their hand. Then it really struck me that there was a person in here. I started wiping at the glass in a frenzy, uncovering more and more until I was on on my toes, stretching as far up as I could to reach their face.

It was a woman, and not just any woman, she was... Unlike anything I'd ever seen. Her long, light brown, almost blonde hair floated around her head like a halo, and even though some kind of breathing mask covered the lower part of her face, I could tell that she was beautiful. She was dressed in a shapeless white garment that flowed out around her body like a robe, moving occasionally as bubbles rose from the bottom of the tank and rose slowly to the surface.

Whatever kind of liquid was in the tank was perfectly clear; I could see every detail in her face and even her individual hairs. I was so absorbed in studying her that at first I didn't notice the light in the room increasing, if that was possible. Then I noticed a pattern on the back of her right hand, a set of three triangles, one of which was glowing a bright golden color. Then, at that moment, three things happened in rapid succession.

First, I looked up to see her eyes flutter open, revealing a beautiful blue color, like old pictures that I'd seen of what the sky used to look like. Then, I finally noticed the light shining from my own hand and brought it up to see the same pattern that was on this mysterious woman's hand. Our eyes met for a moment, mine startled and slightly frightened, hers a bit muddled and confused, but otherwise clear. Then, everything went dark.

* * *

I awoke, for the second time that day, to a loud sound nearby. That combined with the water that was splashing against my face was enough to make me sit up and cast around wildly, the events of earlier coming back in a rush. My searching hands were met with wet sand and I was momentarily blinded by a very bright light. I blinked profusely, hoping my eyes would adjust.

My first look at my surroundings was one I knew I would never forget. A bright blue sky, green fertile hills, and clear, clean water greeted me. Another look revealed the origin of the sound I had heard, a goat who had wandered from a herd nearby, which was grazing on the lush, healthy grass. I was utterly speechless and seemingly unable to comprehend what was happening to me.

There was no sign at all of the woman from the white room, nor of the power plant. I did, however, vaguely recognize the surrounding area, even with all the vegetation. This was Lake Hylia! The water stretched out much farther than it had before, filling up the bottom of the bowl-like valley. There was even the ancient stone bridge, though it was in far better shape now than I had ever seen it. I sat staring around in wonder for quite some time before I realized that I was soaking wet and sitting in at least a foot of water.

I got up and walked through the shallows to where the goat was grazing. It didn't even look at me as I approached, a good sign that it was domesticated. It was a large animal, with horns that had been allowed to grow so long that they curved up over it's head and met again after making a large oval shape. All the goats that I'd ever seen could barely compare with this one, since their horns were trimmed for safety, and their coarse hair sheared off so they could see how skinny they were. This goat had a full, shaggy, gray coat that hung almost half a foot below it's stomach.

When I was convinced it didn't pose a threat, I sat down again. My head fell into my hands and I let out a low groan. What was I doing here? My head jolted up as another detail from earlier came back to me and I quickly examined the back of my hand. Sure enough, there were the three triangles, just like they had been on the woman's hand. The only difference when compared to earlier was that the triangle on the bottom right hand side wasn't glowing anymore. In fact, it almost looked rather like a birthmark.

I stared at the mark for a long time, trying to make more sense of things. Unfortunately, my musings were rudely interrupted when something large slammed into me. At first I thought it must have been one of the goats, but I was too busy tumbling end over end to think much about it. Then, when I had stopped moving, I heard the thud... thud... as it moved closer. I looked up to see a creature with a dark blue, hard-shelled body and four long, strong-looking insect legs heading right for me, and cursed myself for not hearing it approach in the first place.

I scrambled to my feet and assumed a defensive stance, steadily inching backwards. Since I was only an escort, I had assumed a weapon wouldn't be needed when I had left for Lake Hylia that morning, but I regretted my choice now. The only thing I could do was wait and see if I could flip it over and throw it into the water, maybe. Although, that might not stop it. From the look in it's single eye, it most likely thought I would make a good lunch.

One more jump towards me, and it would be close enough for me to grab. However, before I could do anything, there was a loud yell from behind me and a short, blond haired boy jumped out and hit the creature right in it's eye with a long stick that was curved at the end. He kept on hitting it until he had driven back about twenty feet, when it decided to give up and disappeared around one of the boulders littering the lake shore.

The boy turned back to and I gaped at him in amazement. In truth, it was hard to distinguish that it really was a boy, because of their rather androgynous figure, but they stood with a strong confidence, even though they were much shorter than I was.

"Oh man! You were almost that Tektites meal! Good thing I was checking on my herd here. Say, what in the blazes are you wearing? Is that some new style fresh from Castletown? And why are you all wet? You'll catch a cold if you're not careful, you know." He leaned on his stick, which I now understood was a shepherds crook, and stared at me unabashedly. His frank mannerisms and friendly words laid me at ease, though I wouldn't fully let my guard down till I knew I was safe.

"I, uh," I coughed, trying to make the words come out right. I usually made it a habit not to speak much to anyone, since the wrong words could get you killed. "I've had a pretty confusing day is all."

"Hah! You got that right. You look like it too, my good waterlogged sir. How'd you end up in the lake? I suppose it's not too cold for swimming, even this time of year." As he spoke, I took more notice of his appearance. His light blond hair was cropped close to his head, making his pointed ears look longer than they actually were, sticking out from the side of his head like that. He was short and slight, but there was a subtle strength in his frame that matched the ferocity I had seen when he was dealing with the big bug. He was clothed simply in a very old fashioned tan tunic, under which I could see a white short sleeved shirt, with brown pants and a brown scarf, which he wore wrapped loosely around his shoulders.

"I, um, I don't really know..." I let the sentence draw out unintentionally, because I really had no idea. Not theories were coming to mind as to how I got here or what had prompted the sudden, miraculous change in landscape.

The boy threw back his head and laughed. "Well, that's alright. Anyhow, my name's Talo. I live over in Kakariko Village, but every spring I take my family's goats here to graze on the fresh grass by the lake, since there's not much in the way of fodder back home. Just a bunch of rocks, you know?" He let out another short laugh and I was compelled to smile back. I felt myself warming up to him much more as we continued to speak.

"My name is Link." I said. "The name Kakariko sounds very familiar to me. Is it over in the Eldin Sector?" The boy nodded, though he looked a bit confused.

"'Sector', you say? What, as in 'section'? Is that the way people from Castletown talk?" He gave another jubilant laugh. "However, the village isn't anywhere near the Eldin Spring. In fact, it's quite a distance away!" Eldin Spring? What the heck was that? Rather than go further into that subject for the moment, since it was now very, very obvious that wherever I was, it was much different from the Hyrule that I was used to, I decided to pay more attention to what the boy was saying.

"In any case," Talo continued, "Seeing as how you're all mixed up as you are, it seems as though you probably lost your memories. Though remembering your name is a good thing. It means that it's not too serious and you'll probably be fine in a couple days. And since you also remember Kakariko, I might as well take you back with me to the village tomorrow. For all we know, you might have folks there." He smiled brightly and I mirrored it with one that seemed tarnished in comparison. It had been a long time since I'd honestly smiled.

My mind flew back to the boy's plan. Wherever I was, perhaps playing the amnesiac was best, until things became more clear.

* * *

It was late evening by the time Talo and I brought the goats to the small shack where he was staying. There was a small pasture for them to stay in so they didn't wander off, and we had no trouble at all getting them inside, even with my lack of experience around animals of any kind. Talo seemed to think that I had a natural way with the beasts and figured that maybe I was a herder just like him. I simply smiled and vaguely agreed and he appeared to accept it.

I had learned much about the boy during the short time I'd spent with him. He lived with his uncle in the southern end of Kakariko Village, where they made a daily trip to the vast plains of Hyrule Field to graze their goats. His parents had been herders too, but had been killed in a canyon rock slide when he was too young to remember.

The whole of Kakariko Village was nestled at the bottom of Death Mountain, which was dormant in the the Hyrule I came from, but very much active here. I was beginning to wonder whether this was a whole different world, and the woman I had seen wasn't Hylian at all, but instead some kind of beautiful monster that transported me here. It would certainly explain why she was being contained like that.

However much I wanted to believe this theory, there was a nagging doubt inside my mind. What was the chance that this 'different world' also be called Hyrule and also have places named Kakariko and Castletown? The goats that I saw here were the same species that I had seen just earlier that day, trying to graze on the high hills that surrounded the lake, and they were only native to the region around Hyrule, if I remembered correctly.

On our walk back to his makeshift shack where he stayed on his yearly visits, I questioned him about this new Hyrule.

"So, tell me about this place. It may be that I will remember something as you speak." Talo nodded and was happy to oblige to this. The young man was a very active talker and would sometimes get lost in listening to his own voice and forget that he was actually supposed to be talking to someone.

"Well, most of Hyrule is either fields or forest, but to the east we have a vast desert and some tall mountains to the north of that. The desert is occupied by a race of warrior women called the Gerudo, but there's not many of them left. They're an all women tribe, and they cut themselves off from most outsiders some years back. There was a nasty fiasco with their king about a century ago, trying to take over Hyrule and the Sacred Realm. But he disappeared and hasn't been seen for a while now. He's probably dead." He shrugged off the subject, then continued about the local geography.

"The mountains are only accessible from the Zora's Domain and the entrance is pretty heavily guarded, since it's too cold for most people up there. These days, you have to have royal permission and a signed document."

At the mention of royalty, I perked up. Everything so far had sounded exactly like my Hyrule, with the exception of the 'Gerudo' and 'Zora's Domain', but here was something my world definitely didn't have. In my Hyrule, the monarchy had been abolished almost two centuries before in favor of a council of people from the different cities judging what was best for the realm. In fact, there was barely any mention of the royal family in any history book that I'd ever seen.

"So, um, who's currently in the seat of power? A king, a queen?" Talo laughed again, as he was very prone to doing.

"Your memory loss must be worse than I thought! Hyrule is being ruled by the beautiful Queen Zelda, after her honored fathers death almost a year ago. She's a bit young for a queen, but she makes a good leader, you know? Good, strong decisions that help the people out." His eyes took on a dreamy luck as he talked about the queen. To me, he seemed a bit young for even a crush, so I shot him skeptical look.

"How old are you anyway?" I asked sarcastically. "You may say that the queen is young, but you seem as green as grass when it comes to that department." I smiled as I said this, to show him I was joking and didn't mean any offense.

"I happen to be 17 years old!" he replied in the same tone. "I may not look like it, but I've got the muscles to prove it!" We both laughed as the shack came into view. He turned towards me and lifted an eyebrow.

"How old are you, anyway. If you remember, that is." I thought for a moment and decided it would be safe to know at least that much.

"I think... that I'm about 23." I said, trying to put a thoughtful look on my face. He nodded in a sagely fashion.

"You seem to about that. In fact, I believe Queen Zelda is around that age. Who knows, maybe you're a suitor headed to the castle that got attacked on the Great Bridge over the lake and fell over the edge." His tone was that of someone telling a good joke, but it was clear that he viewed it as an actual possibility. I laughed at the idea of it, since back in my own Hyrule, I was considered to be on one the lowest rungs of the ladder.

A thought struck me as I watched Talo give his own laugh and turn away to head inside the small house. I was actually getting used to this! I hadn't even been here for a whole day yet, but here I was, easily comparing the two very different worlds and accepting that they were different. I groaned softly and held my head in my hands. I stood there for a while, running my hands through my shaggy dark blond hair, trying to come to terms with this realization.

"Well, what are you just standing there for? Hurry up and get inside!" Talo called, his bright blond head of hair practically glowing in the evening light. Sun-streaked clouds, with patches of a light, slightly yellow tinted blue sky, covered the horizon to the west, while in the east, dark stormy clouds were rolling and brewing, promising rain and lightening. I wondered if the rain here burned like the rain back home.

"I'm coming," I replied, "Just lost in thought is all." He disappeared back inside and I headed for the door.

Inside the shack was more spacious than it had seemed from just looking at the exterior. The walls were made of dun colored wood planks, which were split and cracked from age, and the floor was made of smooth, round rocks, bigger than my own head, which must have been heaved from the lake by someone with tremendous strength. There were no beds; instead, there were several pallets of what looked to be dried marsh grass, which held the same sweet smell as they must have when they were still growing along the water. There was also a small hearth to warm the structure and also to probably cook food on. To tell the truth, it looked like something you might have found in a museum back in my own Hyrule, before they'd all been shut down, that is.

"Welcome to my temporary, humble abode." Talo said, bowing in a slightly mocking way. "Well, not just mine. Lots of people use this place." He straightened up and moved over the hearth to stir up the embers that I suspected were from this morning.

"What about the person who actually built this place?" I asked. Part of me suspected that the person in question was probably dead, but one could never tell.

"Oh, he was apparently some big-shot hero type, who used to use this place as some kind of retreat when he wasn't off battling monsters. Most people usually just refer to him as the Hero, and he's kind of a legend, really. He's the one that overthrew the Gerudo king's plan. My uncle used to tell me stories about him. He foiled the Gerudo King's plan when he was just a kid, and then scoured the lost woods looking for adventure, where he died and miraculously came back to life. I'm not sure if I actually believe that or not. Eventually, he went on some big journey that he never came back from and this place was left for the people to use." He bent to blow on the hot coals and fed bits of dried grass to the flames as they flared up.

"A hero, huh?" I raised an eyebrow and sat against the wall.

"Yeah, but we haven't had one after him, and that was almost a hundred years ago. But then again, I guess we haven't needed a hero. Hyrule is as peaceful as it gets right now."

Satisfied that the fire was stable, Talo stood and walked over to some bags that lay in one corner of the room. He reached in and drew out a little cloth bag that bulged in several places and was tied with a bit of string at the top, and a smaller package wrapped in what looked like oiled cloth.

"Would you do me a favor and bring in a bucket of water from outside?" Talo asked as he made his way back over to the flames. "There's a small, clean waterfall around the back of the shack, comes right down the cliff wall from a small spring that flows right out of the cliff face. There should be a bucket beside it's basin."

I nodded and got to my feet, pulling my jacket closer to my body to ward off the chill of twilight as I opened the door. After closing it behind me, I walked around the building and the spring Talo had told me about came into view.

There was a small pond lined with river stones that was about five feet across, which was fed by a small waterfall that trickled down the wall of the huge basin-valley. Looking up, I could see a large, dark opening that the water flowed from. In my Hyrule, there was no Lanayru Spring anymore. It had dried up long ago, when the Hydroelectric Plant had first been built. But the very fact that there was a spring here with the same name just showed more similarity between these two places.

Just as my new friend had said, there was an old wooden bucket sitting against the rocks next to the little spring, the cracks between the slim planks stopped up with tree sap. I picked up the bucket and was leaning over to fill it up, when the back of my right hand once again began glowing. Since I'd met Talo, I'd forgotten all about the strange mark that had appeared, but now, as my hand moved closer to the rock wall, the whole mark began to glow faintly. Interestingly enough, the triangle on the bottom right still glowed the brightest.

This was when I began to experiment with it. I figured out that the closer I moved my hand towards the wall, the brighter it glowed. And when it did, my skin began to tingle slightly, as if I were touching a very faint electrical current. Gradually, I moved my hand closer until it was almost touching it. Then I tested which area of the wall it glowed the most around, and as I got closer to where the water ran down the face of the cliff, a glow appeared from under the built up algae on the flat rock. My fingertips made contact with the glowing spot and suddenly, a loud rumbling filled the air.

I heard a shout behind me as the wall seemed to change shape. A sharp point jutted out above my head, splitting the little waterfall in two, while the spot I had just touched slid open and revealed a dark compartment. I turned to see Talo standing at the corner of the shack, his mouth hanging open in shock. Even in the half light, I could see his eyes flitting from the back of my hand, to the rock wall, and back. Then, he seemed to get awfully excited, jumping around a giggling like a young girl instead the almost full grown boy that he was.

"I knew there was something special about you, but I just couldn't put my finger on it! But now look at you! The Triforce on the back of your hand, clear as day! Why didn't I notice it before?" He kept saying more ridiculous things, but at the point the questions in my own mind drowned him out. What in the world was a Triforce? And why was he getting so worked up about it? And how did I do that with my hand?!

Seeing my confused look, Talo stopped chattering and ran up to me, grabbing my hand and examining the mark.

"Woah! The Triforce of Courage! Just the old Hero had." At this, he dropped my hand and peered up at my face quizzically. "You're not actually him are you?" He scoffed, carrying on a one sided conversation with himself as I stood there dumbfounded. "Oh, silly me, of course you're not. You'd have to be a hundred years old for that to be true."

I shook my head, finally cracking a grin at his antics.

"I really don't know anything about this 'Triforce' thing. This mark just kinda appeared out of nowhere." By this time, I was prepared to tell him everything that had happened to me, in hopes that now, since he seemed to know so much about this mark, that in return he could tell me what was happening and where I really was.

"But... But marks like these don't usually just appear! Wait, you remember it appearing? So it happened after you lost your memories?" He looked so confused, and I didn't want him to think that I had deliberately fooled him, so I began to tell my story slowly.

"Well, I didn't actually lose them, though it is true that I know nothing about this place other than what you've told me. I come from a place called Hyrule, but it's so completely different there! I honestly have no idea how I got here, but somehow I ended up in the lake..."

We sat together and talked long after the dim light on the western horizon had vanished, but the darkness didn't bother us. I did my best to recount the entirety of what had happened earlier that day. He listened avidly, his eyes never leaving my face as I talked about the history of my Hyrule and the technology, which I did my best to explain to him, though he didn't seem to quite understand the concept of getting electricity from running water.

When I was finished, he sat in silence for such a long time that I began to get nervous. I finally, I heard him stand up and move around in the darkness. He left me sitting there for a couple minutes, but then came back with a smiles on his face and a lit lantern. At the sight of this, I sighed in relief. He walked close to me, then bent over to inspect the crevice that had opened earlier, which I had completely forgotten about.

"What are you doing?" I asked him curiously. He brought lantern closer to the hole and grinned.

"Just taking a look at what you discovered. Something tells me you may find it useful." I looked at him dubiously, but leaned over and reached inside the opening nonetheless. The object that met my fingers was soft and lightweight, and I pulled it out to discover that it was a white shirt similar to the one Talo was wearing, but thinner. There were more articles of clothing within the compartment, enough for a whole set including boots. It consisted of the white shirt, a green tunic meant to go over it, a silvery chain mail shirt, white leggings, boots, a belt, and a long, green pointed hat.

I was very confused when I saw them, but Talo seemed to be ecstatic.

"Oh my Goddess! These... These are the Hero's clothes! I remember seeing pictures of him wearing things like these in the old books before the library burned down!" He held up the chain mail and stared at it. In the light from the lantern, you could barely see places where it looked like it had been repaired.

"I wonder if he actually wore these... Hey! Since you have the Triforce mark, you should go put them on! Then maybe I'll be able to see if there's any resemblance between you and those pictures I saw." He shoved the clothing into my arms and marched me back into the building, not giving me a chance to say much of anything. He shut the door behind himself and left me alone in the small, slightly smokey room.

After a bit of deliberation, I decided to humor my friend. After all, I did kind of owe it to him, after half lying about my memories. I shucked off my heavy leather clothing and slipped the lighter, smoother green ones on. Everything fit perfectly, even the boots, which surprised me. Was it coincidence that I just happened to stumble upon clothing just my size? After today, I wasn't sure of anything anymore, but I wasn't quite ready to believe that the clothes of some old Hero fit like they were made for me. It was probably just chance.

I opened the door and stepped outside, holding the green hat in my hands. As soon as Talo saw me, his mouth dropped open once more and he stood there, just gaping at me. I remained where I was, feeling a bit awkward.

Eventually, he regained his composure and began to circle me, looking me over. He grabbed the hat from my hands and quickly jammed it on my head, then stood there grinning like a fool.

"It's perfect! You're the spitting image of the Hero! Ah, I'm so lucky I met you when I did!" This statement was following by much jumping around in an excited manner by him, and me trying to get him to stop, with no success. Eventually though, he got tired enough to stop on his own, by which time a was sitting down watching him. He turned to me and smiled so brightly the darkness seemed to brighten.

"You're definitely coming back with me to Kakariko! I can't wait to introduce you to my uncle! Oh, and Link? Thanks for telling me... You know, about where you came from." He snatched up the water bucket, which we had forgotten about earlier, and went inside to stoke up the fire once more. I shook my head and followed after him. I had to admit to myself that, despite my lack of experience with people, I was growing quite fond of the young man.

When I entered the small shack, I saw him empty the contents of the cloth pouch I had seen him take from his bags into a pot. As it turned out, it was filled with a mixture of herbs, which would make a broth for the dried goat meat that was wrapped in the oiled linen. The pot was set over over the fire to boil, and we both sat down to wait for dinner as Talo told me as much as he knew about Hyrule.

* * *

The morning light dawned clear over the hills and cliffs surrounding Lake Hylia. Beyond the rock walls that enclosed the body of water was the edge of a desert full of golden sand, and already there were waves of heat rising from the ground, even though the ground near the cliff was still cloaked in shadows. Just as the sun's rays hit the water of the lake, a young man could be seen leaving a small, rundown shack and heading for roughly made corral where a herd of goats was drowsing. The grass was sprinkled with dew drops, and the path the boy made could be clearly seen from the top of the cliff.

There, looking down into the dark valley that the sun had yet to brighten fully, were two identical figures swathed in ragged cloaks. They were so perfectly still, and the cloth so worn, so covered in dust, that if even one had been looking for them they might remain unseen among the rocks. Nothing could be seen of their faces but two sets of twin pinpricks of reflected light, one golden, the other red.

The figures were watching the scene down below, but were not focused on the young boy. They were staring at the shack he had emerged from, with the patience of a cat waiting for it's mouse.

They then looked at each other, and nodded to each other as the one with red eyes stood and moved with the grace of dancer- or a trained killer- down the cliff side without being noticed.

* * *

Bright light shone through my eyelids, turning my vision red. I pulled my blanket higher to cover my face and the redness disappeared. There was no going back to sleep now, so I lay there and waited for the familiar sounds of the city bustling outside my window. I don't know how long I waited, but was no shouting as people tried to sell their wares, no churning and chugging of machines as they powered houses and kept the streets from becomes too cluttered with refuse. Instead, there was a blissful silence that made me very happy. So I lay there and relaxed.

Soon, however, I found myself getting very worried about the lack of sound, and bolted upright, into the bright light once more. When my eyes had adjusted, I found myself in a small room made of wood planks. I was laying on a pallet of grass on the stone floor, and the bright light had been caused by the sun shining through the crack between two boards.

At first, I had no idea where I was. But then, like a ton of bricks, the events of the day before smashed into me and I fell back again. It was real, not a dream. I looked down at my clothing. I had opted to wear the undershirt and leggings to bed last night, rather than putting my own clothing back on. Miraculously, even though I had slept on a bed of slightly dirty grass, they were as pristine as when I had first found them. If they were magicked to be like that, I wouldn't be surprised. Not after yesterday.

I set the blanket aside and pushed myself off of the pallet. The rest of the outfit was sitting off the side, folded up, while the clothes that I had arrived in were nowhere to be seen. I shrugged and dressed myself in the green tunic and chain mail, figuring that it couldn't hurt. Besides, with any luck, I'd blend in better this way.

After tugging the boots on, I picked up the hat and regarded it for a moment. Then, I gathered my shaggy hair into a tail at the back of my head and put the hat on over it, making sure it was secure enough not to fall off when I started moving. Surprisingly, it was a very snug fit that didn't budge even if I shook my head. Satisfied with my state of dress, I headed out the door.

The sun was even brighter outside, and I held my hand up before my eyes. It looked to be about mid-morning, which meant that I'd either been much more worn out than I had realized, or that Talo had simply seen fit to let me rest. I looked around for him, but there was no sign of the boy anywhere. The goats were still within their fence, and the dry grass showed very little signs of any passage.

I walked over to the goat pen and reached over the fence to call one of the animals. A large, friendly male that I'd gotten quite attached to the day before came over and ran his mouth and nose over my hand, making a whuff-whuff sound as it searched for a treat. It's massive horns were impressive was a distance, but up close you could really see the detail.

As this was the one of the main rams in the herd, his horns had been intricately carved with symbols and figures of herding, protection, and leadership, or at least that's what Talo had said. For such a large beast, it was actually quite gentle. It nudged my hand one last time, then abandoned the search for a morsel of food and lowered his head to nibble at the grass.

A large crash from around the back of the shack almost made me jump out of my skin and I reached for the knife that would usually have been strapped to my waist. When nothing met my fingers, I remembered once again that I had forgone taking a weapon with me the day before. Stupid decision to make, I thought as I circled the small building slowly.

Leaning against the back wall, there was the remnants of a stack of firewood, kept dry by the lip of the roof and the fact that the wind came from the east rather than the west. It was now jumbled about in a pile, on top of a groaning body. I knelt down and inspected their face, noting the bright blond hair and childish features.

"Talo... What are you doing?" His eyes opened and he stared at me reproachfully.

"Why are you asking stupid questions when you could be helping me get out of this?" he countered. I chuckled and started to move large pieces of the wood off of him, so that he might be able to move again.

"So why did you try to have a wrestling match with all of this wood anyways?" I tried again, seeing that his annoyance was fading.

"Well, I was trying to get some fodder for the fire so that I could dry out your clothes, since they were still wet, and make us some breakfast. I went exploring earlier and found a birds nest, so I brought the eggs back with me. They're big ones too!" Talo gave me a big, toothy grin and gestured towards several large eggs that had been just far enough away not to get crushed by the falling woodpile.

"Those? What kind of bird did those come from?" I asked, staring at them. Each one was roughly about the size of both my fists put together, and were a ruddy tan color with dirty looking brown spots and speckles. Talo thought for a moment, then laughed nervously.

"I don't actually know, but they looked really tasty." He got his feet and smiled sheepishly.

Suddenly, a loud shriek echoed through the air and a large, dark, leathery shape plummeted out of the sky. We both dove to the side as it shot past us and started to climb through the air again. I looked up to try to get a better look at it and got the impression of large, feathered wings and a forked, scaly tail as it headed away from us to turn and dive again.

I bent down and picked up one of the longer pieces of firewood from the ground, then rushed to meet the bird-thing as it came down at us once more. I swung the piece of wood, which connected with it's head and knocked it to the ground. It lay there long enough for me to get a good look at the long, rounded yellow beak, the red comb and wattle, which reminded me of a cucco, and the black scaly body. Then, it shook it's head to clear it, turned away, and leaped into the sky. I watched it until it was out of sight, to make sure it was gone. In all, I figured that the entire conflict had lasted less than a minute.

Talo was still on the ground, where he had fallen when the bird made it's first swoop. He was staring at me, open-mouthed as I set the piece of wood back down in the pile.

"Guess I payed you back for yesterday, huh?" I said, cracking a grin. He stared a moment longer, then burst into a fit of semi-hysterical laughter.

"That... That was a Kargaroc! Y-you just beat a Kargaroc over the h-head with a stick...!" His head was thrown back, eyes squeezed shut, and his laughter echoing over the peaceful waters of the lake.

"Oi..." I said, knocking him lightly on the head, "You want it to hear you and come back?"

That at least got Talo to calm down, though he still giggled uncontrollably. He got shakily to his feet and dusted himself off.

"How did you do that? All I could think of when I saw that thing was to get away from it as soon as possible! But you, you got right back up and met it head on and chased it away!" He had stopped giggling now and settled for staring at me in awe.

"Habit." I answered nonchalantly, shrugging my shoulders. "Where I am from, you have to prepared for anything, so reacting like that is pure force of habit." Talo's eyebrows shot up high on his forehead.

"Sounds like a dangerous place." he said. I snorted and bent to pick up the eggs.

"You have no idea."

* * *

That afternoon, I helped Talo rope the goats into a long train. There were a little over twenty goats, so we arranged them two by two so they would be more manageable, and also so that we could keep an eye on more of them at a time. Within an hour, we had traversed several bridges that connected a series of islands, left the lake behind, and traveled up to the tops of the surrounding hills on a small, inconspicuous path that wound up what I vaguely recognized to be the southern side of the lake. At the top, there was a broader, dustier road that curved out of sight between canyon walls in one direction and led over the lake on a high, stone bridge. When I had first gone to the Hydroelectric plant, it was through the canyon from Castletown.

Talo turned us towards the bridge, chattering about the path we would take to get back to his village. I glanced over the side as we walked over and forced down the lump that suddenly rose in my throat. I was suddenly grateful that I had awoken in shallow water, instead of falling from a height like this one. How I got here still puzzled me, but I forced myself not to think about it.

In the corner of my eye, I caught the tiniest amount of movement. It almost looked as if a piece of the cliffs had come to life and was moving with feline grace down the rocks and loose dirt, making it's way to the ground. But as we left the bridge, whatever it was was lost from sight and Talo started chattering about the things we would see on our way to his village. I decided to ignore it and pay attention to where I was putting my feet.

Our route took us along a broad shelf of grass, then turned to a path of stone and reddish dirt that wound through a canyon that was probably wide enough to fit four men walking side by side. It kept winding and turning so that I could never see where it was going to come out. At one point it branched off, but Talo kept us going along the main path. When it finally straightened out, I almost couldn't believe my eyes, even after seeing the green splendor of Lake Hylia.

The small valley we were in was green and fertile, dotted with small trees and bushes. All around the sides, I could see the same cliffs that bordered the miniature canyon that we had just walked through, and beyond them, a magnificent castle. In my Hyrule, everything was connected by those passageways, and it put me a little on guard to find another similarity between the two places. At least there was no castle where I came from, but it didn't really make me feel better. It was a beautiful structure, and my world would probably be the better for having it.

As we made our way deeper into the field, Talo insisted that we keep close to the edge. He claimed that being out on open ground could sometimes be dangerous and there were many things that saw goats- and Hylians- as tasty meals. I remembered the giant, bug-like Tektite and shuddered a bit. While my Hyrule certainly had many dangerous people, in this it was the creatures you had to worry about, and I had a feeling that they wouldn't listen very well to reasoning.

We hadn't gotten more than 20 yards from the canyon path when the ground started rumbling and the goats started straining against their leads. Over the crest of a small hill we could see several figures that I actually recognized. There were several Bulblins sprinting towards us on their stubby legs, and one of them was riding a gigantic pig.

I was still weaponless, but I knew that I could at least handle myself against Bulblins. Looking over at Talo, I saw that he was brandishing his shepherd's crook like a weapon. He was going to be fine, judging by the look on his face. He'd probably been through things like this many times before.

I wasted no time to running forward to meet them, grabbing two and knocking their heads together. It worked like a charm; they were both out like a light. Talo directed his attention to the pig; no, boar, I corrected myself. It had dangerous looking tusks on it's fearsome face, but Talo danced around it and gave it a stinging blow to it's rear end. It squealed and bucked off it's rider, then turned and trampled the unfortunate thing before thundering off in the opposite direction.

After seeing the rider go down, the remaining Bulblins fled. I suppose he had been the leader of their small band. I cautiously approached the trampled Bulblin, but when I got closer, it suddenly burst into a cloud of red and black smoke. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left but a small pile of ashes that was swept away by the wind.

I stared at the spot where it had been, then shot a confused look at Talo. He shrugged.

"They've always done that when they die. Bulblins are creatures created by magic, so when they're dead, the magic returns to the source, whatever that is." he stated, as if reciting it from a lesson someone had taught him.

"Weird," I said, "where I come from, they don't. Do people actually use magic here?" He nodded.

"Yeah, but it only does any good when you have some talent for it. I hear that the Queen has better control over magic than anybody else in Hyrule. Not even the great Hyrulean Priests can best her." He was excited again, and he danced around some of the goats, having a bit of fun while at the same time getting them back into their lines.

I laughed and took a step forward. Suddenly, the ground under my feet started to give way and my eyes opened wide as I fell.

* * *

My body ached as it hit the stone at the bottom of the hole I had fallen into. There was still bits of rubble falling around me, and the air was thick with clouds of dirt and unsettled dust. I heard scrabbling above me, and knew with certainty that it was Talo, trying to see if I was hurt.

"D-don't come any-" I paused to cough as I breathed in the dust. "Don't come any closer! The ground is unstable." I waited for the air to clear and listened to him chatter away. He was talking so fast that I couldn't understand half of what he was saying.

There was suddenly a shout from top of the hole.

"Hey, wait-!" There was a pause, then I heard a thud as something heavy hit the ground.

"Talo!" I called. There was no answer, and the only sounds were the occasional bleat of a goat and my frenzied coughing. I stood up, ignoring the twinges of my bruised body. Clutching at the dirt wall, I squinted up into the light, but there weren't even any shadows to betray movement.

The dirt had settled for the most part by then, and I looked around for some way to get out. I was mildly surprised to the find that the cave-like area I had fallen into was actually rather spacious, and filled with plant life. There were ferns, flowers, and tall grass growing up from the ground, and vines hung down the walls.

My eyes landed on the vines and immediately I was moving over to the nearest bunch and practically tearing them from the wall in my haste. I brought a particularly long and thick one over to the hole in the cave ceiling and tied one of the rocks that had fallen in with me to one end.

I tossed the rock out of the hole and hoped it would catch on something. It took three tries before it caught on something that was stable enough for me to pull myself up, but it felt like an eternity. As my hands reached the top and gripped at the grass to aid my ascent, I prayed that the ground wouldn't weaken and collapse once again.

Once I was out of the hole, the first thing I did was look around for Talo, but he was nowhere to be seen. The trains of goats were scattered, the ropes tying them together having been cut, and were now wandering the field aimlessly. I searched the surrounding area as much as much as I could, but there wasn't even a trail that I could track.

"Damn!" I cursed to myself. I shuffled a few steps forward and my foot bumped into something. I looked down to see Talo's shepherd's crook laying on the ground. I picked it up and clutched it in my hands. I was going to find him, no matter what.

Almost as soon as I thought that, my hopes dropped a bit. I had no idea where to even start. This wasn't my Hyrule, and the only person that I had known was Talo. I took a few steps, then faltered, but drew myself up when I realized that there was indeed a place I could go for help. I was going to the castle.

I started walking with a purpose across the vast field, using the shepherd's crook as a walking stick. For now, it was my only weapon, and anyway, I needed to return it to Talo when I found him. When, not if, I told myself fiercely.

* * *

I was only half way across the field when I became aware of the footsteps. I had been trained since I was a young child to hear the smallest sounds and be able to distinguish between good and bad. I whipped around and pointed Talo's staff at whoever was following me.

"Eep!" The girl let out a surprised sound. Her orange-red hair was cut short and uneven, so much so that it stuck out in spiky patches, but still fell into her eyes. It looked like it had been hacked off with a dull blade, but it also reminded me of the flames I'd seen at the hydroelectric plant. She was wearing a sleeveless, dun colored shirt under a strapless, leather wrap-around bodice, and baggy black pants that flared at the knees, then tightened at the middle of her calves. Her brown boots looked worn and much used, as did the cloak thrown over one shoulder. With a small shock, I realized that her ears were small and rounded, rather than long and pointed. This girl wasn't Hylian.

When I didn't lower the staff, annoyance flashed in her golden eyes and she frowned.

"Hey, what's the big idea? You go around attacking travelers for fun or something?" she growled at me, frowning even deeper.

"Only if they follow me." I countered. "Are you following me?" She snorted.

"You wish. The Gerudo follow no man." she said, raising her chin proudly and straightening her shoulders. That name struck a chord in my mind, a memory of something Talo had said.

"Gerudo...? From the desert?" I asked. She nodded exasperatedly and sighed. I studied her more closely, remembering that Talo had said that the Gerudo tribe had cut themselves off from outsiders.

She seemed to be a few years younger than I, at the very least. Her skin was a few shades darker than mine in complexion, and her amber colored eyes shone with a defiance that I had only ever seen in my own reflection. It was a mixture of the will to survive and desperation, and I knew from experience that she could be dangerous if cornered. I was the same way.

While on the short and slight side of the scale, there was definitely some subtle strength in her tan arms. The cloak on her shoulder shifted and I spied the hilt of what appeared to be a sword in a sheath on her back hidden beneath it. I eyed it warily before giving her a pointed look.

She look at her shoulder, and grinned sheepishly, revealing twin rows of slightly sharp-looking, white teeth.

"Well, you can't be too careful out here, with all the monsters roaming around. Besides," she said, "you could have been some kind of murderer! You... aren't a murderer, are you?" She took a step back and glowered at me until I shook my head to indicate that I wasn't.

With that simple action, her whole body relaxed and she offered a hand to me.

"My name's Aura." she said simply. I hesitated, but then reached out and shook her hand.

"I'm Link. ... Look, I'd really love to stay and chat, but I need to find my friend. I think he was kidnapped." Her eyebrows shot up and she whistled.

"That's rough. How are you going to find him?" I shrugged helplessly. She strode forward to clap her hand on my shoulder.

"I'll tell you what. I'm going to be your new best friend. You don't seem to be from around here, so I'll be your guide!" I raised my eyebrows, wondering if it was really that obvious. If this stranger could tell that I was different, then who else would be able to?

I turned my attention back to Aura, only to find her studying my clothing.

"You know, for some reason you look kinda familiar... Huh, must be the tunic." she said, still staring. I looked down at myself. I was still wearing the green outfit that I'd found in the hidden compartment behind the spring at Lake Hylia. The dark, leather garments I'd worn when I'd first arrived were tucked into a nice serviceable bag that Talo had loaned me.

"I, uh... get that a lot." I said, deciding not to tell her about the clothing's origin. She simply nodded knowingly. I knew that I should get some other clothing, but I would worry about that when I got to the castle. This outfit was too recognizable.

"Well, we should get moving if we want to find your friend. There's no time to stand around here chatting!" With that being said, she marched off in the direction of the castle. I followed after her, not because she had offered her help, but because she looked like she knew where she was going. I knew that I couldn't stay around her forever, because I wasn't sure if she were a trustworthy enough person to reveal my secret to.

She kept chattering about seemingly random topics as we walked. If everyone in this Hyrule talked as much as Aura and Talo, I was bound to die of a headache. Luckily, our pace seemed to pick up, and we were approaching the bridge to the castle in what felt like no time at all.

The bridge passed over a deep gash in the earth, and nothing could be seen below but darkness, though the sound of a river roared far beneath our feet as we walked over it. Ahead, two huge reinforced doors were set into the wall that surrounded the castle and it's city. The bands of iron attached horizontally across looked very old, they still shone in the sunlight.

Aura strode right up to the doors and gave them a hard shove. They opened with barely a sound, showing that they were well cared for. Beyond the doors was a second bridge, which was made of stone this time, that ran over a moat. On the other side there were two immense wooden doors, with beautiful carvings of four different animals spread across both of them. As we walked closer, I could make out the extreme detail that they had been crafted in. A giant bird sat near the top, above a goat like the ones that Talo herded, and what appeared to be a squirrel. A giant snake wrapped it's long coils around the door frame, each tiny scale carved to perfection. The carvings were accentuated by wooden braids of flowers and leaves That filled any blank spaces on the wood for further decoration.

Once these doors were pushed open as well, the noise from the busy streets flooded out. They weren't the sounds I was used to, but rather an echo of how I had often wished my own Castletown would sound. I must admit that I favored the sounds of people chattering happily and vendors calling out their wares over the sounds of machinery and misery.

Over all the buildings and all the bustling streets, the castle loomed in the sky. If this had been my Hyrule, the presence of the castle would have been oppressive and dark, but in the midst of all the beautiful greenery, with the sun shining down and happy people swarming below, I found that it had a comforting effect instead.

"I'm going to take you to some friends of mine. I was actually just heading to see them and they may be able to help you find your buddy." Aura shouted at me over the noise. I nodded and allowed her to pull me into the throng of people traveling haphazardly in what seemed to be all directions. I did my best to hold Talo's shepherd crook close to my body to avoid losing it in the shuffle.

I tried to look around and remember the path we took, before I knew it I was lost in the crowd, and my only lifeline was Aura's grip on the front of my tunic. I do remember taking a turn at a corner , passing many different shops and inns, and then crossing an even busier street before ducking into a small alley that was a distinctly different from the rest of the town. It was completely empty.

The alley continued a short way until a set of stairs opened out into a small courtyard that was a whole story lower than the streets had been. The floor was paved with flat oblong stones in a pattern that appeared to be random, and there were boxes, crates, and lumber everywhere. To our left, a woman in a purple dress with a halo of short, fluffy white-blond hair was sweeping dust out of a doorway set into the wall. It was the only door that opened into the courtyard, I noted with interest.

"Louise!" Aura said happily. The woman turned to face us and her green eyes widened.

"Aura? What are you doing here? I thought you were in the desert dealing with-" Aura stopped her with a look and gestured to me. At this point I was extremely curious as to what Louise was talking about, but I held my tongue. I didn't want to upset the person who had selflessly offered their time in order to help me.

"Oh my, who is this? You don't usually pick up strays, Aura." She studied me for a moment. "You know, you look very familiar for some reason." I sighed. Once again, people were associating me with their ancient hero. I opened my mouth to explain, but Aura cut me off before I began.

"It's the tunic, and this is Link," she said shortly "but what we're really here for is information. Link's friend got kidnapped on their journey through the Field. Have you heard anything?" She gave the pale haired woman an odd pointed look that I couldn't decipher. I was really starting to wonder just who these people were now.

Louise looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded slowly.

"You know, I think did hear a snippet that might interest you. There was a big commotion with the guards and a couple of travelers coming through town a couple hours ago. Apparently they were planning on going straight through to get to the southern part of Hyrule Field, but they looked a bit shifty, so when the guards tried to stop them, they started a brawl in the street and the travelers escaped. But that's the only thing that I can think of." When she was done, her eyes flicked back and forth between Aura and I, judging our reactions.

I thought about the information that had just been imparted us. It definitely could have been Talo and his captor, but was there only one? Or was there a band of ruffians waiting in the southern Field? Also, they couldn't be making much time if Talo was aware of what was happening.

"Do you know if both of the travelers fought against the guards?" I asked, knowing that this bit of information would depend or whether we had a lead or not.

"No, from what I heard one of them was rather weak, or maybe he was sick." My eyes lit up and I felt like cheering.

"That's definitely him! The south road you said?" She nodded and I turned to Aura. She grinned and placed her hands on her hips.

"Well let's go then. Time's a wastin." We started back up the stairs, then turned as one and waved at Louise.

"Thanks!"

* * *

After they had gone, Louise went back to her sweeping, shaking her head. After actually seeing the young man, she could really believe that everything she had ever been told about their mission was true.

A young Hylian man with long brown hair that was plaited and braided into a long rope that hung over his shoulder stepped out of the doorway and into the courtyard. Louise glanced at him.

"How much did you hear?" she asked him. He cupped his chin with one hand.

"Enough to know that our plan is working. Playing with time is a dangerous thing, but judging from our observations of him so far, our prediction of the future of our country is accurate. I also saw enough to notice the triforce on his hand. He's the one." Her movements faltered and she stopped sweeping.

"Will we be able to stop it? Not only the future, but the omens that you foretold of the Dark One's return." She turned to face him, her face pensive. "What if he can't handle this?"

"Once he receives the Blade of Evil's Bane, there will be nothing that can stop him." the man, Zarowin Harkinian and the Prophet of the royal family, said soothingly. However, inside his chest, doubts of his own bloomed. Could this Hero from the dark future really bring peace and strike down the threat? No matter what he tried, he could see nothing of it in his readings. But he would have to take the will of the Goddesses on faith, for the sake of this country, and for the sake of his sister.

* * *

The first place Aura took me was the fountain square. I was still having a bit of trouble getting used to people who actually looked happy, rather than miserable, and this place was certainly disorienting. There was a pretty even mixture of those going about their way, and those that stood loosely in groups, chatting.

In my Hyrule, there was no fountain, though there had been long ago and the area still managed to retain the name. It had been torn out and replaced by a monolith of solemn black stone that rose up as high as the buildings with three floors. Looking at it had always made me a bit depressed. I liked the clean, sparkling fountain here better.

The square itself was spacious and open to the sky. It was lined with several shops, and streets led from it in all four directions. However, one of these streets only led to one place.

Down a broad paved road, a wide set of stairs led to a set of strong wooden gates, and beyond those was the castle. It looked even bigger from up close than it had from the field. The main body of the castle was huge, with tall, elegant towers roofed with shining blue tiles. From this close, I could see scaffolding from where additions were being made.

Aura turned us away from the castle, and into a large shop on our right. Outside, there was a sign advertising quality armor, swords, and weapons of all kinds. The windows were well lit, and displays of shining metal and polished leather were displayed behind the glass.

I was glad that I had had some rupees in a pouch that had been tucked inside my clothing when I fell into the lake, and even more so that I had not lost them since. They would definitely come in handy here.

A small bell rang as we opened the door, and a large, bald man with forearms as big around as my head and a beard that hung halfway down his chest looked up from the counter. He took one look at us and grinned.

"Miss Aura! What a nice surprise. Haven't seen you around for quite some time!" His booming voice, which had a heavy accent that I couldn't quite place, seemed to shake the rafters as he laughed.

"Do you know everyone here?" I whispered loudly to her. She just grinned in answer to my question and strode up to the man.

"My new friend and I are going on a little journey, and I noticed that he didn't have a suitable weapon. I'm afraid that a staff won't do much good against monsters who are smart enough to wear armor." She took a long look at me, then continued. "He seems to be pretty well on armor though, if I'm correct about the chainmail you're wearing."

The man shuffled out from behind the counter and made a gesture to ask for an invitation to inspect the metal garment. I nodded and he knelt down, lifted the bottom edge of my tunic and studied it. Suddenly, he let out a gleeful laugh.

"Quality stuff, this! Masterfully made and expertly patched as well. Was it you that did this?" I shook my head.

"I'm borrowing this armor for a little while, so that I can look for a friend mine." In my head, it had made a perfect lie, but once I had spoken the words, I knew that they were actually true. Having armor to protect me would be a great asset in finding Talo and getting him back.

The man nodded sagely and stood.

"Well, you couldn't find anything better, not even here." He turned back to Aura and looked at her expectantly. She nodded and turned to look at the far wall, which was covered in a display of sharp looking swords.

"I think we'll get him one of those. He has the build of a swordsman, and if he needs a bit of training, then I can help him along. Oh, and Gabe? Make it a strong one." The man, whose name was apparently Gabe, nodded and strode forward, motioning for me to follow.

He moved past the display, instead of stopping at the sword racks like I expected, and opened a door set into the wall beside it. He waved me through into a dark room and followed behind me, grabbing a lantern as he went.

With the lantern lit, the room was revealed to be a cluttered workshop. There was a long table set against one wall, while across from it there were furnaces and anvils, along with tools for metal working. The floor and walls were made of rough hewn, cobbled stone, but was smooth enough so that you wouldn't trip, even in the dark.

Gabe led me to the far wall and held up the lantern. A single row of swords hung from their hilts on brackets that had been pounded into the wall. Some of these hooks were empty, but the majority were full.

"These are the very best and strongest blades that I have made. Since you are Miss Aura's friend, you may pick one and purchase it with a discount." The huge man smiled at me as I looked at the swords. Some were rather fancy, while others were completely plain, with only the signature mark of the blacksmith to decorate them.

I nodded and took the first sword, one with a gilded handle, down and tested it's weight and it's balance. I had wielded swords back home enough to know a good sword when I felt one. This sword was wonderful in it's balance, but a little to heavy to be able to move at the speed that I wanted. I returned it to it's place and took down another.

The rest of the swords were tested in much the same way, but none of them felt... right. No matter which way I swung them or how many times I changed my grip on the hilt, they didn't feel like a sword that I could use. I didn't voice my thoughts though. Gabe was being extremely generous with his offer and I wouldn't be the one to turn him down.

Instead, I chose a sword that was fairly light and very strong, and that hadn't felt as wrong as the other ones. It would do during my search for Talo. I held it out to him and he took it carefully.

"Good choice. A light sword makes a fast fighter and a good defense." he said approvingly. I grinned at him wolfishly, which he seemed to find hilarious. We moved back out to the main room to find Aura sitting on the counter sharpening her sword. She looked up as she heard our footsteps.

"I borrowed your whetstone, Gabe. Hope you don't mind." Gabe smiled and shook his head.

"Anything you need, Miss Aura." My curiosity about her was still peaked, especially because of the respect that this giant man had for such a small woman. I studied the both of them as Gabe searched around behind the counter to find a scabbard for my new sword. They both seemed completely at ease with each other's company. Maybe they were long time friends?

I put my mind off the subject as he finally found a suitable scabbard and had set it on the counter next to Aura.

"Now, about payment." Gabe said, looking down at us with a serious expression on his face. I gulped involuntarily at his intimidating stature. He could be quite frightening for someone so friendly.

"With the discount paired with Miss Aura's customary lowered prices, your total comes to 200 rupees." His stern facade cracked into a smile as I stared at him. Only 200 rupees? My eyes flicked back to Aura, who had a smug look on her face as she took in my expression. I looked back to Gabe and nodded gratefully, taking out my pouch of rupees. Maybe things were cheaper here, but in any case, I would still have a couple hundred left in smaller change after I had paid. I reached in and took out an orange rupee and two purple ones.

He grinned down at me, obviously finding my reaction funny. After graciously accepting the money, he wished us well on our journey and told Aura to keep the whetstone, then accompanied us back out into the square.

"Farewell, and good luck!" he shouted, waving a massive arm at us as we walked toward the South Road. We waved in return until he went back to his shop.

* * *

The South Road went past the alley where we had met Louise, and out of a set of gates identical to the ones that we had entered from. However, instead of a second bridge, there was a broad raised paved area with two different levels above the ground level that were connected by stairs. Set between the two staircases that connect the higher platform to the lower, there was a bubbling fountain.

Aura and I stood, with the fountain between us and the gate, and with the castle at our backs, looking for any sign of passage through the field. There was no one in sight, though it looked like this was a well traveled route.

Directly ahead of us, walls of rock closed around a broad track. The wind whistled through the passage, the sound building until it formed a quiet moan. I couldn't see very far down the path, because the canyon curved gently. This I knew from experience.

This was more territory that was an echo my my world, or maybe mine was an echo of this. I tried not to think about that for too long, because every time I did, the world spun and my head began to ache.

I traced possible routes that Talo and his captor could have taken in my head. Beyond the canyon, there was one of the largest, open fields in Hyrule, and branching off of that were routes back to Lake Hylia, to the location of my Kakariko, and to the wasteland, which was full of caves, gorges, and cliffs. Or at least, it was a wasteland back home. There was no telling what it could be here. Long ago it had been a giant forest, but all the trees had been burned or cut down hundreds of years ago.

Aura and I walked down the long, narrow track for almost an hour, making me wish that we could have gotten horses in town. Sadly, it appeared that most animals larger than dogs were prohibited from the city streets.

When the passage did indeed open into the field, I barely recognized the area. I had remembered it as the normal gray and brown landscape, with a few straggly trees and mud holes. But to compare that image, which I had seen not a week ago, to this?

While the geography was the same, here, as in other places I had already been in this world, was full of life. Bees hummed in long, green-gold grass that rippled in the wind as water does when a stone is dropped in it. Over the gentle rise and fall of the hills, a small herd of goats could be seen roaming near the edge of... the forest.

Trees of all sizes loomed up over the plain, and I was fiercely reminded of the dream I had had back in my world, which had been all but forgotten from my mind. Even though it was still far away, I thought that I could almost see the strange lights flitting through the boughs.

"And here we are, the South Hyrule Field. I don't see your friend, though." Aura's voice shook me from my thoughts. I turned my eyes again towards the herd of goats.

"See those?" I said, pointing. "Talo is a goatherd, and his goats disappeared with him. Maybe it's worth checking those out?"

Aura nodded and without a word we started off.

* * *

Sun shone through the trees, providing a bright path for the travelers. Both wore shrouds, although one was merely wrapped around the travelers figure. Said person lay slumped over, moving with the motions of the horse they were riding, as if they had no strength to do otherwise.

Talo said not a word, didn't move, didn't hardly dare breath in case it meant letting his captor know he was conscious. He had been only half aware as they rode through Castletown, had heard the fighting, but had been unable to muster any strength in his limbs to run away.

His head ached fiercely. He didn't know what had been on the little dart he had been stuck with after Link had fallen into the hole, but it had been potent enough to steal his mind away to the darkness of sleep almost before he had been knocked to the ground.

There was a rustle in front of him, and he peered forward to see as much as he could without moving his head. It seemed that his captor was stopping the horse.

His heart nearly stopped as he saw them take a dagger out of the folds of their robe, one which, in other circumstances, he might find rather pretty. At the current time, the ruby set into the hilt glowed darkly like fresh blood, and the edge tapered down to a razor thin point, which he was sure could slice through his skin like goat butter.

"I know you're awake, boy." The voice that issued from the hooded figure was not what he expected. A weathered, tan hand reached up to lift the hood from their face, and as it fell back, Talo felt his breath catch in his throat.

It was a woman, with long, white hair braided in intricate patterns, so long that it vanished into the robe. It contrasted with her naturally dark skin, making her stand out from the green of the forest. But the most startling thing about her, was her red eyes.

Talo had never seen a Sheikah before, something he was grateful for. In the past few years, a small group of them had separated from the royal guard and rebelled. They razed fields, pillaged towns, and caused trouble for travelers, but they had never been caught due to their superior physical prowess. They were also masters of vanishing from right in front of your face, then appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

The woman moved towards him and lifted the dagger, then brought it down quickly. Talo squeezed his eyes closed as hard as he could, bracing himself for the pain, but none came. Instead, the bindings around his wrists loosened and the blood rushed back into his hands.

Wincing, he cautiously sat upright. She shrugged the rest of her cloak off, revealing a blue and white tunic and close fitting, though sparse, black armor designed to allow free movement. She bore no emblem, so he didn't know whether she actually was a rebel or not.

Now that she was closer, he got a better look at her face. The white symbols that usually adorned the faces of the Sheikah stood out on her skin. A long, slender teardrop seemed to slide down her right cheek, and there were three small triangles tattooed above each eyebrow.

She tucked the dagger into a sheath at her waist and busied herself with removing the packs from the horse. Talo eased himself off of the saddle, his limbs aching from being immobile for so long, even though he no idea how long that actually was. By the time he had both feet steadily on the ground, she had shouldered the pack and had the rope he had been bound with in her hands.

He backed away, think she was going to tie him up again, but instead she simply tied the horse to a branch, giving it enough slack to roam around and graze. Then she motioned for him to follow her and started off through the trees. Talo hesitated wondering if he should just try to run.

"We're deep in the Faron Woods, boy. Unless you're familiar with the area, you'll be lost and probably trapped in a gully before the sun goes down." She spoke without looking at him, still walking away. Her voice carried easily through the stillness of the forest. He gulped, and started after her.

* * *

It took a shorter time than I had expected to reach the forest. We hadn't run into any trouble at all, if you don't count sneaking around a bokoblin camp.

Now, the cliffs were closing in and the trees towering upward. There were none of the evanescent orbs I had dreamed about, but the sheer size and mass of everything else was awe inspiring. Most of the trees I could see were taller than any buildings I had ever seen back in my world.

The herd of goats we had seen were indeed Talo's, a sure sign that we were on the right trail. When they caught my scent, they almost trampled me in their need for comfort and reassurance. Apparently I had been remembered and was well liked.

After Aura assured me that they would be able to take care of themselves, we headed into the forest. I had to admit to myself, even my first sight of this world couldn't compare to this eden.

Huge roots had cracked the earth as they grew, and until I got used to constantly watching where I put my feet, I was tripping every other step. However, seeing my feet wasn't always an option. Ferns, tall grasses, and an assortment of flowers covered our path, usually staying at the height of my knees, but at time we seemed to be wading through them as they came up to my chest. I felt a bit sorry for Aura, who was a shorter than I, but she didn't seem bothered by it.

The sounds that drifted through the trees were almost imperceptible to my ears, but my sharp eyes caught the distant movement of a small group of deer that moved around as they grazed. As we got closer, their heads went up, ears back, and suddenly they bounded away with barely the snap of a twig.

I was entranced by them as I watched them go. I'd never seen an actual deer before, I'd just read about them. No one had really thought to preserve them when development had first started, so in my world, they were extinct. I thanked my lucky stars that I'd actually gotten to see some.

While my mind was on a different subject, my feet kept moving. Unfortunately, this brought me right into the range of some kind of carnivorous plant. My whole body seemed to pivot to the side, and now facing it's direction I could see it rearing it's ugly, bulbous head and preparing to strike.

I could hear Aura cry out a warning, but there was too much blood rushing through my head for me to hear her. Instead, out of instinct, I pulled my sword out of the sheath on my back. As it rushed forward, I jumped nimbly to the side, managing to avoid tripping over something, and brought the sword down to sever the stem that connected the head to the rest of the plant.

There was an angry, pained hiss before the whole thing dissolved into a pile of ash. It had happened so fast that Aura had barely had time to move from her spot. She walked over and clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"That was pretty well done, Link! I thought you said you didn't have that much experience with swords?" I shrugged and grinned dazedly, still high on adrenaline.

"Admittedly, most of that was reflex. I'm not even completely sure how I did that." She gave me a long, appraising look, mixed with a bit of the unreadable expression she'd shared with Louise back at Castletown. Then she grinned and turned back to the path, speaking over her shoulder.

"Well, keep it up! Seems like we'll need it here." I snorted and started walking after her.

After that, I was more careful about where I stepped, or the areas I went near. Eventually I learned to see the signs that there were more of the plants, which Aura called Deku Baba's, and avoid them.

Aura seemed strangely familiar with the area, and when I asked her about it, she said that she'd been exploring here many time before. When I asked if she was looking for something, and if so, what she was looking for, she smiled, shook her head, and would say no more.

For while, I puzzled over the riddle that was my new friend. I had realized that I knew nothing at all about her, except that she was a Gerudo. However, something about that bothered me. Talo had said that was Gerudo had isolated themselves completely from the rest of Hyrule. So why was there one here, traveling to nowhere in particular, and offering to help a complete stranger?

While I wasn't going to turn down her help, I would be cautious and watch her. She had to have some reason for offering her time that she wasn't telling him. Not only that, but the people back in Castletown had treated her much differently than I would have expected.

I shrugged my shoulders, then rolled them to work out any kinks. I would be patient. If she had any kind of ulterior motives, they would come to light soon enough.

I was drawn out of my thoughts by a sound from the section of forest to our right. I peered into the gloom of the dying light of the sun, then glanced upwards. I hadn't realized that the sun was already going down. Not that it really bothered me, I had always been able to see well in the dark.

The sound had come from a horse that had been tethered to a tree. There were no signs of anyone having been anywhere near it for the past couple of hours. Actually, the signs that I could find were from the horse, but Aura motioned me over to a clump of bushes at the edge of the clearing.

The broken fern fronds were out of the reach of the horse, so we surmised that they could have only been from the rider. My hopes surged upwards. We were finally getting closer to finding Talo!

"Well, we have a trail now. Should we stay here for the night, or keep going?" Aura looked at me searchingly.

"No, we should continue. He's only a kid, and he's gotta be scared out of his mind." Whatever expression showed on my face must have convinced her of sincerity, or perhaps it was the way I spoke, but she nodded and pulled a lantern out of her pack.

"We'll need this then if we want to keep on course." I nodded and motioned for her to take the lead.

The path from there was easy to follow. If it occurred to me that it may have been a bit too easy, it was nothing but a fleeting thought that was drowned out by my eagerness to find Talo. It seemed that every couple yards there was a tiny scrap of cloth caught in the thorns of some bush, or a broken stalk of some plant.

We must have walked for not even an hour before we saw light shining through the trees. Our pace quickened and suddenly we burst into a clearing, in the middle of which a fire burned heartily. However, that was the only thing there.

I looked all around the clearing, searching for any signs of life. When, after finding none, I turned back to Aura. She had vanished.

This is when I started to panic. I walked around and around the clearing, not really taking in the surroundings, but rather in a hyper aware daze. But no matter where I looked, or where I looked from, I was alone.

I struggled to get my breathing under control, and decided to actually take a look at where I was. In three directions, there was nothing but an overgrown forest. But, as I turned in a small circle to look, I saw that the forest floor ended in a sheer cliff, beyond which there was nothing but darkness. I moved as close as I dared to the edge, but could still see nothing.

When I turned back to the fire, I froze. On the other side of the blaze was a huge wolf. In the light, it seemed to have a golden glow to it, and it's eyes had an intelligent gleam to them. It didn't make to attack me, nor did it back away.

I stood there, still as stone. Then, slowly and cautiously, I started to reach up over my shoulder to draw my sword. My arm hadn't even moved five inches before the wolf growled at me. I put my arm back down in a hurry and the growling stopped. I did this several more times, testing the wolf's reactions.

Finally, I just stood there and started at it. It didn't seem to want to attack me, nor did it seem inclined to move. Or so I thought.

The motion from sitting to standing seemed unnaturally graceful and fluid, and indeed as it walked around the flames, I realized it's glow was not gained from the fire. It was actually glowing. Just how many weird things was I going to come across in this world?

It walked right past me and stopped at the cliff's edge, then jumped. I immediately rushed after it, and looking down I saw that it was standing on a ledge which was illuminated by it's glow, and looking up at me, a mischievous look in it's very expressive eyes. It turned away and started to walk along the ledge, then stopped at looked back at me.

I wondered if I should actually follow the damn thing. Sure, I had come to this place led purely by instinct, a whim, and a mysterious girl that I knew nothing about, but that didn't mean I had to follow it. However, the more I thought about it, I realized that I wanted to.

I cautiously lowered myself onto the ledge and walked towards the wolf, stopping just out of biting range. I may have followed it, but that didn't mean I trusted it. The wolf simply kept walking and didn't look back unless I fell behind for some reason or another.

The path, for that's what it seemed to be, wound along the cliffside. Some parts would crumble slightly under my feet, but for the most part it was stable enough. There was no light except for that that the wolf emanated, and no way to tell which direction we were going. All in all, it was very disorienting.

Eventually, the path broadened and the cliff walls closed in until there was no longer any danger of me falling. Ahead, I could barely see the opening of some kind of tunnel, but it didn't seem to made of stone. As we got closer, I saw that instead of a tunnel, it was a massive, hollowed out tree trunk laying on it's side. I gulped and stepped inside.

The tree-tunnel opened out into a smallish clearing, and I found that I no longer needed the wolf's light to see. Tiny, glowing balls of light drifted through the air, and an unfelt wind drove them along on it's currents. There actually wasn't a single breath of moving air in this place. It was completely still and silent, as if it had been frozen in time.

Time. The word echoed in my mind, but I dismissed it. The wolf led me through more tunnels, and into more clearings, and seemingly around in circles. Most clearings had more than one path leading to and from them. I knew that I'd never be able to find my way out of here on my own.

I was completely unprepared when the wolf stopped in front of me. I had grown used to just following and not paying attention, since it seemed useless to try to remember the way we had come. But now I looked around and found myself standing in the midst of some stone ruins.

Broken columns and masonry lay scattered about, and there were thick vines growing over everything. I could see places where the forest was taking back territory, creeping slowly forward to cover faint impressions of what might have been the foundations of buildings.

"What is this place?" I whispered to myself. The air here was different than in the groves I'd walked through. It felt charged with energy, as if it were waiting for something.

"It used to be a place of man, long ago before the forest reached it. Now, it's a sacred place." I jumped and looked around wildly.

The wolf had vanished, but there was now a figure draped in green leaning against a pillar. I squinted to get a better look, then stumbled back.

A skeleton stood there, dressed in very similar clothing as I was. The long green hat had been replaced by a golden helm with a gap through top and back, through which green, tattered fabric showed to flow down it's back. The tunic was the same, but accented by armor of the same golden color as the helmet.

It (he?) carried no weapons, nor did it present itself in a threatening way. There was a strange, subtle glow outlining it's shape, which made me think that maybe it was connected to the wolf in some way. I was also sure, more sure than I had ever been of anything, that the voice had come from the skeleton.

"Who are you?" My voice sounded stronger than I felt.

"A relic of ages past, awoken by your arrival." The phrase was simple, but it struck a chord inside of me. My arrival? As in my coming to this world? I had no small trouble trying to wrap my head around that.

"Why me?" I asked helplessly. "Ever since I got here, everything has been so confusing and different, and why am I even here, talking to some dead guy?" Every subtle frustration from the past few days had poured out of me with those words, leaving behind an empty, hollow feeling.

"Allay yourself, my child. All shall be made clear soon." he said, moving towards the far side of the clearing. I had expected his joints to crack, and his movements to be sluggish and erratic, but he moved as smoothly and silently as I.

Meanwhile, I simply stood there dumbly, staring. What was with his old fashioned way of speaking? Well, I supposed that it would make a bit of sense, what with him being dead and all, but that was how people spoke in history books, hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

"Um... If you don't mind me asking... Just how old are you?" By this time, he was standing in front of a set of doors that seemed mostly intact. Now he look back at me.

"Judging by how ruinous this place has become, roughly two hundred years." He placed a hand on one of the doors, and light shone through the cracks.

I however, didn't notice. I was too busy trying to process the information. Only two hundred years? Even him being didn't account for the way he talked. Although, now that I really thought about it, this whole 'other' Hyrule did seem rather rustic.

The skeleton gestured to the doors, getting my attention. I hesitantly strode forward and laid my hands against the sun-warmed wood, then gently pushed.

Beyond the doors was a whole different world, or so it seemed. A long staircase descended into a long, brightly lit, rectangular room. Tall, intricately carved columns held up the ceiling and supported racks of pristine, unlit candles. On the other side of the room was another set of doors, and on either side was a stone statue.

I took a step back, then peered around the doors. A ruined hall met my eyes, filled with broken pillars. On the other side were the same doors, and the same statues, but in worse repair.

"W-what is this?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"The Doors of Time. They allow one to walk through time." His voice, compared to mine, was as solid as stone, and there was no way to decipher his expression.

I gulped and moved back to the doors, and after a moment of hesitation, stepped through.

* * *

There was a dizzying rush, and then the ground was solid under my feet again. I held my head in my hands and had my eyes squeezed shut, trying my best to hold the contents of my stomach in. A voice to my left laughed.

"I suppose that the first time going through is rather rough. Though it may be worse for the living." I looked over to see... myself. No, not myself, but someone who looked incredibly similar. He had the same messy, dirty blond hair, the same fierce blue eyes, and the same strong jaw that I had seen in the mirror almost every day of my life. Just about the only difference between us was that he was wearing the skeleton's armor. Which would make him...

He stood there patiently as my brain struggled to catch up.

If we just went back in time, would that give him the appearance that he would have had at that time? The evidence clearly supported that. The question that remained first and foremost in my mind was why he looked so much like me.

"What's your name..?" I asked in a hushed tone. Even though it had been quiet, the sound echoed and reverberated through the hall.

"My name was Link, like you. But now that I am gone, I am simply called the Hero's Shade. In my own time, I was called the Hero of Time. Now, however, it is time for you to take up my mantle, for there is unrest in Hyrule and Sacred Realm." I nodded dazedly. He was also named Link? Was is coincidence or simply a sick joke? I had no time to think about that now, as he started walking down the stairs. I followed him as he crossed to the doors, guarded by statues.

He stopped and motioned me forward.

"This you must do alone. We shall meet again, Link." With those words, he faded away into nothing, leaving me alone in silence. I steeled myself, then pushed the doors open.

Inside, was a smaller, circular room lined with stained glass windows. In the very middle stood a pedestal, embedded in which was a sword.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I slowly walked towards the sword. It was a beautiful weapon, with a blue-violet hilt and silvery blue tempered steel for the blade. It seemed to give off a light of it's own, even though a sun beam fell down and illuminated it perfectly.

The moment my hands touched the hilt, I felt the overwhelming urge to pull it out of the stone. I did just that, and was blinded by a flash of light.


End file.
